Ascent From Ash, page 20
She didn’t wake up until sunrise, and what a glorious sunrise it was, the sky was still dark blue at the top, then it was purple, pink, and finally, red just above the horizon. She wished that she could paint so she might capture the beauty of the sky reflected on the surface of the still ocean, but that was a skill she never learned. Below deck, Sophie heard infants crying, and young children yelling for chamber pots. Soon, the ship was bustling with life, and just like that- the peaceful sunrise was over.
Breakfast was rice and beans, the cook mixed the leftovers from the night before into the new batch. Sophie gave her portion to a young boy who was complaining to his mother about still being hungry, his mother had eaten almost all of her breakfast and was ready to give him the rest when Sophie approached. “Here, take mine,” she said. “I’m still full from last night.” Sophie handed the boy her bowl. The mother looked thankful that she would get to finish her breakfast and silently nodded her thanks.
“What’s your name?” Sophie asked the boy as she sat down beside them on the steps between the upper and lower deck of the ship.
“Patrick,” the boy said with a mouthful of beans and rice.
“Patrick, don’t talk with your mouth full,” his mother scolded.
“Sorry,” he swallowed and then asked; “What’s yours?”
“I’m Sophie.” The boy’s eyes widened.
“You mean Queen Sophie? Is it true you’re a dragon?” He was so excited that he forgot about his breakfast.
“I’m a dragonshifter, I can turn into a dragon,” she explained.
“That’s.. wow! So why didn’t you fly to Ledora?” he asked.
“Well, I can’t shift right now.”
“You sick ‘er somethin’?” he asked as he took another bite.
“What did I say about talking with your mouth full? Show Queen Sophie some respect, son. I am so sorry, Your Grace.” Patrick’s mother seemed mortified.
“He’s just a boy, it’s quite alright,” Sophie told her.
“I’m not sick, I’m going to be a mother,” she smiled at the boy and his mom.
“If you have a boy, you should name him Sam.” The boy said.
“That’s interesting, why did you choose that name?”
“I had a puppy named Sam, but Mama said we couldn’t bring him with us.”
“My mother’s name is Samantha, I think Sam is a wonderful name, sometimes people call my mom that when they’re in a hurry because it’s faster than saying, Samantha.” Sophie could tell that the boy was trying not to worry about his pet. “I hope that Sam will be happy to see you when you get back,” Sophie told him.
“Me too.” The boy smiled at her.
“Take care, Patrick, and listen to your Mama.”
Sophie walked to the bow of the ship and looked across the water. Ash was already a day behind her and all she could see was the ocean and sky. She was worried about her friends and Bastian, she had never really been the religious type; so many deities, and none of them had ever sent her a calling, but at that moment she could think of no better Goddess to ask for her favor than Freyja, Goddess of love, fertility, and battle.
Please Freyja, protect those in the Kingdom of Ash and guide their swords, arrows, and bodies in battle. Protect my child and my body, the vessel in which my baby grows. Protect the love between us all and leave none of my friends brokenhearted. Sophie wiped a tear from her cheek as she ended her request to the Goddess. Sophie decided that when she got to Ledora, she would make an altar and light a candle. She hoped that the goddess would accept her offering and give them all divine favor.
38
Akiri
Akiri felt the rise and fall of Gabe’s chest and listened to the rhythmic thumping of his heart, his skin was warm and soft against hers. He was still awake, neither of them could sleep on what might very well be the eve of battle. He turned over on his side, looking deep into Akiri’s eyes. He gently stroked her long black hair away from her face.
“You are so beautiful, I want to remember this moment for the rest of my life.” His eyes surveyed every inch of her face like he was engraving it into his memory. Akiri pulled his lips to hers and his sensual kisses sent a shiver down her spine. He brushed his fingers up and down her arm, awakening every part of her. He loved the juxtaposition of his brown skin against her creamy complexion, he wanted to kiss every inch of her, but he wanted to make it last. He kissed her cheek, and her jawbone, then very slowly he moved to her neck and then her collarbone. She exhaled heavily as he kissed her chest, and then her nipple, it felt like torture, but she didn’t want him to stop. She was filled with need and desire for her husband as he kissed her stomach, then her inner thigh, and then when he kissed her hot, wet, sex she moaned, and when he inserted a finger into her opening, she moved her hips slowly as he moved his finger at the same pace in an out a few times until he was able to work in his middle finger too. She called out his name which only intensified his erection and he could no longer delay his pleasure. Gabe slid his erection inside of his wife and groaned with pleasure as her muscles squeezed him. Her nipples were hard and pointed and grew slightly painful as her desire mounted. She pushed him back. “Lay down,” she commanded.
Gabe was stunned but did as his wife, The Queen, commanded. She mounted him and his eyes rolled back as she slid down onto his erection. He looked at her body grinding on top of him, her rhythm matching that of a seductive belly dancer like the ones he saw perform at the Loose Anchor Tavern when he was younger. Gabe moaned her name as he exploded inside of her and she came to climax at the same time.
“Akiri, that was amazing,” Gabe sighed. Akiri smiled and nodded in agreement. She was too out of breath to speak. She curled up beside him, resting her head on his chest again.
“I don’t think I will be able to sleep tonight, I’m scared. I know Nohan is going to be angry when they realize I am gone, and I have no idea what kind of followers he has amassed, the one other person he had with him, called him Master, like he was a God or something.”
“Maybe they are the only follower he has, and this will be easy if he even shows up at all.” Gabe hoped that he was right about that, but he had a feeling there was going to be nothing easy about this fight. Akiri’s mind wandered to her lair and the eggs that had been destroyed. She knew it wouldn’t be tonight, but she wondered if she might lay a clutch soon. She decided that she would shift in the morning, in preparation for an attack, they all would, and she would stay in dragon form until the new moon came again, if she had not laid a clutch by that time, then she would give up her dream of having baby dragons, and she would give Gabe the human children his heart desired. He deserved to have a family, he was kind and strong, loving and patient. She knew that he would make a great father.
Akiri looked out the arched windows on the northern wall and watched the clouds roll across the starlit sky, she watched as the stars began to disappear. It was time to get up. She tapped Gabe, who had managed to fall asleep, but only just, and whispered that it was time to prepare. He got up quickly and began to dress. Akiri didn’t need to dress, she was going to shift.
“I’m going to head to the front courtyard, and have Dominic, Kamara, and Bastian meet me there,” Akiri said. Gabe nodded and kissed her as he rushed off to begin waking the castle. Akiri shifted in the courtyard and waited for the others as she kept her eyes fixed on the sky to the North. The others joined her, shifting into their dragon forms as they reached the courtyard. They lined across the front of the castle and waited. The bell did not ring. It could be heard from miles away, and they did not want to let their enemy know they were ready for battle.
The lanterns were all snuffed out and other than the light from the sky, which wasn’t much yet, the castle remained dark. The triggerman was locked and loaded on the large bow at the top of the castle and ready for the dragon to make an appearance. The city guard and able-bodied civilians gathered in formation around the front gates of the courtyard and stood with their weapons at the ready.
They waited just like that for what seemed like an eternity. Akiri was almost relieved and thought that maybe Nohan would decide that it wasn’t worth it to pursue her after all, but the relief was short-lived because, at that same moment, an ear-piercing screech echoed through the sky. Akiri kept watch in the direction the sound came from and soon realized that it was not an echo after all, but a battle cry from multiple dragons. They flew in formation across Ash and breathed fire onto every wooden house in the kingdom. Akiri knew that would happen and was glad that they evacuated the city, but the dragons circled the area, she knew they were expecting screams of fear and panic.
The black dragon roared a guttural, angry-sounding roar and flew straight for the castle, leading the others in an angular formation. An enormous arrow flew through the sky toward Nohan, he performed a barrel roll out of the way, and the bolt struck one of the dragons behind him. It screamed in pain as it spiraled and fell from the sky. Akiri heard it land with a crash on what sounded like the stables. Lucky for the horses they had been moved behind the castle earlier that day.
Akiri let out a roar, letting the others know that it was time to attack. They took flight, Bastian flew straight for the gray dragon, and surprised it by swinging his tail like a club. He hit the gray dragon right in the chest which hurt, but it seemed to only make him angry. The gray dragon flew at Bastian and breathed a dark cloud of smoke at him. Dominic dipped below it, quickly flew behind the gray dragon, and sank his teeth deep into his scale-covered tail. The dragon wailed in pain and flicked his tail toward his front claw and hooked Bastian’s cheek.
Akiri rushed straight for Nohan and shot her dark green acidic sludge at him. He dodged it easily and seemed to laugh as he circled to face her again. He rushed her and slammed his body into hers. He tried to wrap his tail around hers and tried to lift it. She roared in anger and disgust, even now, he was trying to mate with her. She slapped her tail across his face and turned around as quickly as she could. She bit his neck, but her teeth barely punctured his scales. He pushed her off of him, and she heard him laugh again. Impossible, how? Akiri thought.
“I don’t want to hurt you, I just want you to fulfill your duty to our kind, to dragonkind.” She wasn’t crazy, she heard him speak in her mind.
“Then come down and talk to me, face to face.” Akiri thought about the words she wanted to say to him, she didn’t know if the technique would work, but she had to try.
“Maybe, in a minute.” Nohan did a nose dive and then lifted just before hitting the ground, he barreled through the armored men with swords in the front line of the formation surrounding the courtyard. A few brave members of the city guard stabbed him with their swords, barely breaking through the dragon’s thick skin. He knew these men, and they knew him, or they thought they had.
Some of the men in the back rows witnessed the front row get taken out like ants and a few of them dropped their weapons and were now cowering at the castle doors, trying to get back inside. Akiri had to get him back into the sky so that the triggerman could have another shot at him. Akiri flew just over the top of him and let out a roar as she passed. He looked up at her and started chasing her. She circled the tower, trying to get Nohan in a position that revealed his less armored underbelly to the bolt.
She heard the weapon fire and listened as it whistled through the wind. It found its mark and embedded deep into the soft tissue of Nohan’s underarm. He howled, but not in pain, in frustration. The bolt seemed to be no more than a thorn in his very large side. He tried to pull it out, but the barbs on the tip of the arrow were made to open. What he didn’t notice until it was too late, was the chain attached to the end of the bolt. It jerked him toward the tower as they began rolling the chain in with a hand crank.
Nohan tried to resist, but the more he tried to fight against it, the more the barb ripped into the fleshy unarmored part of his body. He had no other choice, he shifted. His body released the bolt and he began to fall from the sky at an alarming rate, his first attempt to shift back failed and the ground grew closer by the second. Humans have one major flaw; they’re squishy. Nohan gave one more desperate attempt to shift and his wings lifted him back into the sky just before he hit the ground. He drew in a deep breath as arrows flew at him from every direction.
He blasted half of the archers out of the formation with one breath and then flew toward Akiri with a screech, but before he could reach her, Dominic crashed into his body and sent him rolling backward. Kamara tried to attack Nohan from behind, but a cone of fiery breath shot between them. Kamara pulled back, drew in a deep breath, and unleashed an icy cold that dropped the dragon to the ground, she watched as he transformed back into the shape of a human. His skin was a light blue as he lay shivering on the ground, unable to feel the warmth. Kamara landed and shifted so that she could get a closer look, she didn’t want to kill anyone if she could help it. When she saw that he was starting to regain mobility in his hands and feet Kamara called to the remaining soldiers waiting on the front line.
“Seize him,” Kamara commanded, and two of the city guards took the shivering man into custody and carried him by the arms to the dungeon. Two gray dragons, a red, and another brown, and Nohan, a dark green, remained, although, Kamara could only see two of them. The sound of a horn blasted from every direction but south where the castle stood and in moments, the castle gates were surrounded. The dragons weren’t alone, they brought an army with them. Kamara looked up, she couldn’t see anyone. If they didn’t knock back some of the ground forces, the battle would be lost.
Kamara shifted and flew straight up into the sky and let out a wail that would fill a banshee with envy. The soldiers on the ground dropped their weapons, and the other dragons started to fall from the sky to escape the sound, she held the high-pitched note until she spotted Dominic, Akiri, and Bastian. She rushed to them in her human form and waited for them to shift as well.
“Kamara, what was that?” Dominic asked.
“I’m not sure, I was just trying to get your attention.” She pointed to the heavily armored forces that stood ominously, waiting for the command of their officer. There must have been five hundred in all. Ash’s Army was puny in comparison. They all looked at each other in defeat. Gabe emerged from the formation behind them.
“I’ve taken all of the injured to the kitchen, there’s no room in the infirmary, Nadine is working as fast as she can to keep them all alive, but we have lost a lot of men.” Akiri ran to him and hugged him.
“I’m so sorry, I should have stayed, I should have stayed in the lair and given Nohan what he wanted and none of this would be happening.” Her face was streaked with tears.
“I only wanted what was mine.” Nohan appeared in front of his troops.
“What do you mean?” Gabe asked.
“My children, of course. Didn’t your wife tell you?”
“Tell me what? Akiri, what happened?”
“I-” Akiri choked on her words and couldn’t bring herself to break Gabe’s heart. Nohan walked closer, but Gabe’s eyes were fixed on Akiri.
“She didn’t tell you, because the truth is; she knows I’m right, she is only wasting her time with you. We are mated, and the eggs that she will lay will be dragons, not some half-human-dragon outcast with no chance in this world.”
“What are you talking about, mated?” Gabe asked clenching his fists. He was staring directly at Nohan, but it was Akiri who spoke.
“When they captured me, he told me if I produced a clutch of eggs with him, they would allow me to come home, but I couldn’t wait that long so I escaped.”
“But not before we made love in our dragon forms, you should have heard her roar for me, Gabe, it was like… well, nothing like you will ever experience, ohh it makes me hard just thinking about it.” Nohan reached out his hand and fondled Akiri’s breast. She slapped his hand away and covered herself as she stepped behind Gabe for cover.
“Shut your mouth, I swear to the Gods, I will end you right here if you touch her again.” Gabe pointed his sword at Nohan.
Nohan held out his hand to the soldiers behind him and without a word, they passed him a sword. “Let’s see what you got, loverboy,” Nohan said with a sick grin. “If anyone interferes, I will give the command to my troops to waste you all.”
“And If I win?” Gabe asked.
“Unlikely, but sure, if I die, my troops and the other dragons will return to Choddrath and leave what’s left of this dump to its Queen. It has to be a fair fight though, lose the armor, and the clothes.” Nohan pointed to Gabe and moved the tip of his sword up and down, gesturing for Gabe to remove everything. When Gabe was naked and armed with his sword, they rushed into battle. The clanking and scraping of metal against metal rang in everyone’s ears as they watched the two men block strike after strike. They whirled, and ducked, then parried, like they were performing a choreographed dance with swords. Gabe ducked low and swung his foot behind Nohan’s and hooked him by the ankle. The move swept him off his feet and his back hit the ground with a smack. Gabe pointed his sword at him and cheers erupted from the people and friends of Ash, but Nohan was far from finished, he flicked his wrist and hooked Gabe’s sword by the hilt. He pulled back with a quick flourish and sent Gabe’s sword flying from his hand. Gabe backed away, then ducked and rolled toward his weapon. He slashed his sword as Nohan rushed him, opening a shallow gash across Nohan’s stomach. Bright red blood started to bead up inside the cut and in a rage, Nohan rushed forward, grabbed Gabe by the back of the head, and drove his sword through his middle.
“I told you it was unlikely,” Nohan whispered as he pulled up sharply on his sword.
“You’re still going to die, I poisoned my blade.” Gabe laughed and then started coughing as blood started splattering out of his mouth. Nohan’s vision started to blur and he felt dizzy. He felt his blood grow thicker as it congealed and bubbled. The beads of blood in the gash on his abdomen turned black and festered as the same black fluid began leaking from his eyes, nose, and ears. He fell to his knees as he coughed up the black sludge.
